Family Unity, Family Health

What are the Collateral Consequences of Deportation?

Who pays the price for deportation? You might be surprised to learn that an estimated 4.5 million children who are U.S. citizens by birth live in families where one or more of their parents are undocumented. When a person is deported, they don't just dissapear, they dissapear from the lives of other people: their colleagues, spouses, children. Human Impact Partners asked me to help them to illustrate and humanize this issue for a national coalition of community-based organizations and legal services providers. I worked with Tiffanie Tran to illustrate a harsh narrative of our country's deportation policy, towing the line between cute and dire; Helki Frantzen, the Coalition for Human Rights Los Angeles (CHRLA), and I produced a series of short videos in which undocumented Americans tell their stories; and I developed a media-rich single-page website and digital white paper that wove together these approaches.